IMPROVING DAIRY HERDS

Otaki Mail, 6 August 1923, Page 4

IMPROVING DAIRY HERDS

L, 1 BY RAISING PRODUCTION STAND- " I ARD. A PRACTICAL PLAN. . | The question of toe scrub bull is !■[ one that is agitating the minds of all ' k progressive dairymen at the present ' 0 time. New Zealand is the biggest ex- j B porter of dairy produce in the world, ' I] but whilst this is so, it is an undenifj able fact that the production of the s | country could be more than doubled § without ho necessity of running a I h single extra cow.. The average per j i * cow over the whole of New Zealand j i, i was at the !y<t lukine; of statistics on . 'X (j the subject, .slightly over 170 lbs of $ butter-fat per year, whilst individual j 3 herd, run under similar conditions, '£ but with careful selection and breedtj | ing -ire producing between three and ~ | four bundled lbs. These facts arc be- * yond question, but the thing that the tj average tanner ol New Zealand has .1 1 not yet grasped is that such improve- • j, i; menfc in returns is within his individp ual reach—that there is no magic at- \, tached to t'lte process, and that ul- -'- g though there are problems to be faced L | in raising the national standard to I the higher level, it can only be I I achieved through the cumulative ' efL jj forts of the individual farmer along p simple and already clearly understood f I .-Jines. I 3 GROPING IN Till: DARK i Unfortunately, the idea that pro-j £ gres.sive methods are something for/ I the other fellow is' too prevalent in 5 | New Zealand, and undoubtedly the ' I fact that such improvement necessiI tates the expenditure of a certain I amount of capital before a return is • • | received, has militated against its earI tier popularity, but the idea is ga-in- § ing ground. Herd-testing is a. grop-' | ing alter the truth—after all, a blind J groping, because it has failed to grasp! _ dhe l»iportairfe*fnct that it is merely t M working fm the .available material '. I without making any adequate ar- i rangenient for the provision of an tin- i proved standard from which to select. V This is the question which is now J' engaging the minds of (lie up-to-date i agriculturalist, and the following | scheme, which was outlined to a "Chronicle"' representative by Mr \V. i J. McCullough, manager of the CenI! tral Development Farm, and which 1 has been submitted to the Department of Agriculture for consideration, will be found of general interest. I SCRUB BULL-MUST GO. f I j "During the last few years," said J i .Mr McCullough, "I have been very I j | interested in the progress of the { j _ ( butter-fat production- of tlhe dairy? Sm cows of this Dominion, and although | [we have been doing wonderful work! in creating interest in herd-testing* n , (ifflong our dairy farmers, we agree i« that until the much talked of scrub 5 | bull is eliminated we: cannot, hope to ' j progress in production per cow, to j anything approaching the extent possible, were the common herds, headed j "™ 8 by pure-bred sires. I do not suggest £ lor a i nl that herd-testing is not I £ of greal assistance to production, but 1 !! 1 do suggest that breeding must go { | band in hand with testing, otherwise the true and lasting value of herdtesting is not. fully appreciated. | "To do this we, agree that the scrub bull must go, but one is laced with the great problem—how is he. to lie replaced? And so we continue to breed from L'lir best testing cows and I fill the gaps in the dairy "herd from time to time- with heifers from i ■•freak," good-testing, uondescript-bred * cows, and by. a scrub or nondescript-f bred bull, with no guarantee that he* will leave high producing qualities in J his daughters. The result is thai the J heifers come into profit and eventu-f ally have to be culled as rigorously I as were their dams, until alter much « I disappointment and expense in rear-i tug. an odd "freak" high-testing lieif- ] er Is retained to keep" up the herd j number, which has no secure loum.la-l lion in breeding. : | ] THE FREAK HEIFER. I ] 1 Mr McCullough,•' because I have | I [heard some fanners boast ol having I | j herds which could beat all the pure- f § breds foi production, but uniortun- \ § lately, while an odd crossbred cow lay S fi herd may produce very- well, these J, 1 are so few in number that such ant- (' maN ore only an accident of nature * and therefore freaks. %; ••J feel absolutely sure Olial the bulk of tiie dairymen are quite aware of the benefits of using a good bull, with known records ol production behind him: but in the great majority '- of cases, she ready cash is not "avail- if able, nd, like other important matters ' j, on the farm, it has to stand down in- 1 J definitely. I have often thought of '• 1 ; how this great difflcultv might be | ■ overcome—partnerships, bull clubs, f I Government assistance by providing 1 • bulls to stand in certain districts, etc' E 1 ]>n( all seemed to bristle with diffieul- St ties. " I WHAT AUSTRALIA IS DOING. 1 Whilst in Australia on holiday re- L collily, however, i came into touch h with Mr \V. L. Summers, secretary to g the Department of Industry for South ■ Australia, and in discussing this sub- M Ject found to my astonishment- that M South Australia had already taken Eg this matter up in earnest. I was so B interested in Hie project that Mr Sum- m mers kindly sent me a copy of the m Act passed in that State ("An Act to m provide lor the licensing of bulls and K for utilising the money derived from such licensing in encouraging the dairy industry of the Slate"-. This was assented to on December 7( 1921." "The main provisions of the BUI jg arc as follows: — ffi SECTION I. g Conditions governing sale of till B purebred bulls}. jg ill Bulls shall be registered in r m Herd Bo"l<s. or be eligible for Herds §j Book entry. j H f2) Bulls must be well-grown aid true to type- ! ■'3'' Bulls shall not be less than j ten month? nor more than two i years of age. I <!,■ owners of bulls two years and [ / over must produce evidence of ! \ fruit-fulness in the preceding year, j S SECTION 11. ! { (Conditions governing sale of. pure- » ; bred bulls eligible for Govern-J \ ment subsidy). • F C (1) Bulls must comply with all * -J, conditions laid down in Section I. / (■•Z) Bulls eligible for Government . \ subsidy shall be the progeny ol j C officially tested stock of satisfactory t performance records agreeing with b standards to be fixed. \ (3) Bulls for sale cannot qualify \ for subsidy unless having passed a S T;U>erei!lin test within six months c ptior to date of sale. -■ ... .- ? ' CO Subject to the following conditions the Government shall offer to approved purchasers of such \ bulls a bonus of 25 per oent. of the c purchase price at the end of the ! J first year, provided that- such bonus S does ' not exceed C*s. and 12?, per \ V cent.-of the purchase price at the j ) end of each of two subsequent j S years, provided that such payment \ j does not exceed £l2 10s each' year. * S .fii The application for bonus to '. C 'be on forms supplied at the sale ' ? ■ and endorsed by the auctioneer and ■ S - Govi-mnieiil representative. j C (6) Subsidised hulls shall be made ■ X »v;iiloble for use to others ai a fee C net exceeding 10s per cow. In 'he { Ciiki ol hulls under two yeois of / age the owner need not accept more \

itlian li outside cows during the j first year, hut no further subsidy j will be paid, unless he can show I j evidence of having accepted not less j than ten outside- cows lor tho same j i period. For bulls of over two years ! the maximum number of cows that I ■ the owner, must accept is raised to j 25. whilst the minimum entitling i < him to further subsidy remains at j j ten. j (7) The owner to supply the De- i purtrnont of Agriculture with a list I of names ol' outside owners of cows and dates of services. ,S; The hulls shall he Kept under | conditions satisfactory to the De- I pai'tment ol Agriculture. .Mr McCullough pointed out that . greater encouragement would be given 10 purchasers (clause 1) by paying i the first 25 per cent, as soon us pos- j i sible alter the purchase of the bull is | ■' approved. Clause 6, .he considers. ; would reunite amending on the score i of the number ol outside cows accept- j ed. and also that before any outside i cows are accepted, they should bo I certified as clean by an inspector. Fur- 1 tltor that the acceptance ol outside j cows, whilst useful as insuring that | bulls will be put to the fullest possible j use. should he compulsory only where j the owner has not sufficient cows of j 1 1 is *>wn. ! LIOEXsHNG OF DI LLS. Tile New .■south Wales Act provides I that every hull over the age ol six i months shall be licensed at a fee oj | lus. and 1 rom this source, the Gov- 1 eminent will receive this year, a sum j •ol L'i:;.">U, which provides a fund to ! work on. Not the least important j j factor in this arrangement is the I j point that breeders of young pedigree J j bulls, by agreeing to ■•licensing" j j should be able to dispose of everything up to standard that they > u ll j I breed, for a \eiv long time to come, l instead of. a- ul'piesenl. having a lot ! of young bulls, two ami tlireo years ! | odd. miming in the paddock waitingon the buyer prepared to offer a rer- j ■ lain price, and who very otu-n doe> | . not happen along. Thus quite a bn ■ ot bulls ate lost to the country ami ; mav eventually lie. potted. Ihe result : I- that a number Of young pedigree Pull calves are killed, only sufficient ■ being reared to meet the demands ol : ipe fe\‘. who call purchase them. iwei: ! „I ilei.-c reared, statistics show that i the pedigree bulls of this Dominion ale not being Used tor service as luu l h ■as they should be. According to oui I statistics, on the 31st latiuary. tbri. ihere i> one pure-bred bull to evety ! is purebred cows, and uniorunniteU ! ileue is one scrub bull to every .11.2 crossbred cows. Of course, the purebred bulls must assuredly be serving j mote than purebred Jetnales. yet the 1 fact remains Hurt the great majority j of purebred hulls ait not in the hands ■ of legitimate dairy tanners, but ate ' the property ol pedigree btyedets. as c ;l n be seen by anyone visiting a stud | farm and rnviing the proportion of i bulls and cows. j PDOI'I UlTIt >N 'IF FI ItI.HUFIiS. The lollowing table gives tlie mini- * hers arid proportions Of purebred and scrub cattle of millung strains in 1‘.i21. I and there is no reason to believe that, g ilie numbers have materially altered. | The animahs quoted are all of two 1 veai s and upwards I Bulls. Lows

I ' A proportion ol 1.3 cows to over f bull. I; ! C HO.-.-ISISI !> O.vrri.l-: 'Willi a )>ii 1 iloiiiinniiiig'strain, same ag¥ .

r-.tliU. iMi!:~ ;?0: ' ~v. , 1,04 A pi "port ion i>f i to 31.2. li. a- :ii J V\ . stem vimt'ii!i'» and Tasmania. •;!: , ■la irv l.uii, in New Zealand we rtf re- : .jinte.i to be registered at a fee of ills, the !•■■■, • 1111 ,- fir. m -hi.' \v-m ll <J amount t._. ;sj.|;i oxiiiialfly i'i-UOM it ..in purebred ■ bull? ami tlO.tiOfr front crossbreds, making iiit? 111?.'li Mint ..! £20,000 for tlic |.,iii|. of dairy herd improve t nit?! 11. Till-: M< ‘VFMKNT IN i I! Fl’, I‘AitTrs Tie o.;lowing clipping Tiom the 1 • Am kian.'l Weekly New*" supplied b> ; Mr McCullough. shows the support I ! which the scheme is receiving abroad: j | --li. Western Australia,” writes Co!. C.; ; !•: Merritt, in tie. course of an article j tlie -uhjo.-t in ”An-;rali-Jii iaiiiJ j ami I) .me,' 'every bull over ;he age 1 -it uii.ni!:- must he registered at a j:• ■■ in- with a penally for non- ;• ■ .mi.haii,oi £2O. After it>2j. regi-s-. fratOm may !.-e refused if the buli does ! not comply with the standard adopti. si end ;he hull lniisi he destroy..-,i. j iinSes. the Appeni Boaid provided., di- ; rects tie; regts;ra.ion. | In Tcsm-aiiio. ail bulls nnj:.-t me regis- ' tered oee ins . and arer three year? 1 only pureh!ed or grade bulls ca.ii be | used. A grad-- bull is one that Tins i either a purebred »ire dam entered |in a registered herd bonk. \fte: a | fev. yeai» uis proposed to disallow ] grad- t.,i 11 1 ~. and only p-rmd the use j purebred 'nulls, and this will erf•f >tii::y latso tin Mandnrd o' the cows , and production o: butter- | -r'- : it mhy be mentioned that Ireland j m one of the latest countries to take I t.-h matter up. and the dairy fanners ! Omagh are , 'ailing upon the Tie-j i partrrient of that country to introduce j | legislation for the registration of ail j i pijiis. which must be from dams with'-; certified rniik records.” From tiii« it will be seen that dairy, men in different parts o' tire world are keenly alive to the harm being done to the standard of dairy cattle' bv the scrub bull, and are attacking the problem in the only way in which : it t.s capable ot soi uiion—by prohibit- j ir,2 The -use oi the scrub bull alto-j - ge'her. Further, according to the j South Australian scheme, which ap- j , pears to be the most up-to-date yet i , evolved, the dairy herd must be firs;; brought up* *o a reasonably good .standard, before the owner is eligible for assistance on the line-* provided. This, in encouraging him to initiate the process of improvement in the j first place, provides a reasonable j guarantee that the work will be con- i firmed aider the Government has done j ( its pari. j 'dr McCullough, as has been etc- j;• plained, has brought this scheme be- j fore the Department of Agriculture, ; * and it will be hoped by all progres- j asive dairymen that legislation along j the lines suggested will be introduced j in Free near future. i ■ q

1 .1er,ey* 5.SOS ; S (jilt 1 ! list;' V*> . • • ;» 16 \!(]i>rnev> J 2 Frisians i.;r»s 2,55’.‘ \ \ y )■>} 1 ith-. :v:r, l. , iu-a coiu ...• 31 11 .■ j Shorthorn* 1 ,vtiu \ ! Tina! 7.835 11.22-1

“■ >;t,V ;i !i<! illel' I -i; 11J 1 i ' Bulls. Mi, \:c, r-i VMlllis r.. i or. 117.is:: \v r-i,! IV. 3.11'.* 77i> Mi kinu .'tioi'iii.irnit, 5713. S 7.‘i He Kills 52 * >t ir.'ii i i H7> i>00